I was motivated to write this text by Colesław's video, or rather by the desire to share it with the rest of the world. This is the best video I have seen in the last weeks on YouTube, and since I watch a lot of content from this platform, the competition was fierce. I recommend that you subscribe to his channel if you like retro games and gear like me - one of the best on this subject I have seen in the last 5 years. Why do I consider it the best video? Because it presents in a substantive way how the game was created and shows the full context. As you can see, crunch in the game industry is nothing new, it was not invented by CDPRed, UbiSoft, etc. Even the process of creating "Quake" caused several families to break up, some characters were broken, the creators became colder, some employees resigned from work at ID Software. It is similar with moderators - they were already eager to improve game producers and supplemented the elements that they missed. Well, sometimes they even took things out of the code that were cut from the game content and are unavailable to a player who does not understand programming.
Unfortunately, YouTube has turned off the automatic translation option so non-Polish viewers won't be able to understand it. However, in this text I covered some of the topics that Coleslav talked about, so if I interest you, you can search for information on Google.
As for the game itself, "Quake" was one of the first high-profile premieres that I missed and it took me many years to catch up. This is probably due to the fact that my friends did not have the equipment that would be able to cope with her hardware requirements, and my father practically did not play on the computer anymore. My uncle, who I quote often on such occasions, was not a special fan of ID games. He played "Doom", I got to know "Dark Forces" (I recommend "Star Wars" fans!), "Duke Nukem 3D", but I don't remember playing "Quake" together as opposed to the aforementioned. When this title hit store shelves, I was 6.5 years old. Back then, I mostly played both parts of "Doom", "Warcraft", "Command and Conquer", "Red Alert" and what appeared on CDs on CD-Action. I didn't know much about games, but I had strong equipment on which I could play everything. I don't remember its configuration, but everything was smooth, with the highest possible detail. In general, except for a few cases where I had to tinker with files, I had no problems whatsoever.
At about 10-12 years old, I finally played Quake for the first time and ... after a few minutes I turned it off because I didn't like it. "Doom" was more accessible to me in every respect - it had a more interesting world, weapons that fit me better, more interesting opponents (although the creation of Shambler still impresses me today) and any plot. Sure, this one too was on the low level as if one of the ID employees had written it on a piece of paper, treating a hangover during an extended stay in the toilet, but better nonetheless. As if to compare "Dragon Ball Z" to "Bleach" - both titles are ridiculously weak in this respect, but no matter how you criticize the latter, to be honest, it has a better plot than Akira Toriyama's manga. And most of all, I saw the inconsistency of the game, which is understandable to me now, and which I did not understand then. The point is that on the one hand we have gothic castles, generally RPG-like atmosphere, and on the other we have shotguns, other weapons from our world and opponents who look like improved versions of their counterparts from "Doom". Colesław did not say about it directly, but I think it was due to the fact that they had to add something new. Why? As Coleslav said in his film, 7 months before the game's premiere, its concept was completely changed. At first, they wanted to make a title that was different from what ultimately ended up in our computers. There was supposed to be a hammer, a dragon flying around the board, and a few other things that were eventually deleted. Similarly with the first part of "Doom", which was supposed to have a good story, the other Doom-Marine parts controlled by AI, we were supposed to start by freely walking around the space base to learn about it (something like "Doom 3" or the beginning of "Half Life "). Overall, the game was supposed to be much more advanced, but it turned out as it came out. It's a pity, but on the other hand, they would limit the number of customers, such as productions from Origin Systems (who were then creating very demanding, but equally well-polished games). Nevertheless, I would really give a lot to someday move to an alternate world where ID released "Doom" and "Quake" in their original versions. I wonder how much FPP games would go forward ...
If you want to buy an original copy of the game, I recommend the GoodOldGames offer - a Polish company that I often recommend due to the sensational level of their releases. Currently, it costs PLN 39. We also get "The Elder Scrolls: Arena" & "The Elder Scrolls Chapter II: Daggerfall" for free. I'll buy myself today.
By the way, in 2-3 weeks I will make a long-awaited return to my childhood. I will almost completely cut off the internet, mobile phone (almost, because I will publish normally on my blog and chat with my closest friends, family and girlfriend) and will only watch old movies and play old games. Such a pretend return, but somehow you have to earn for entries :).